


5,114 Days

by SorchaCahill



Series: Awakenings [2]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Family, Isolation, stubborn droids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-04
Updated: 2016-02-04
Packaged: 2018-05-18 06:47:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5902408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SorchaCahill/pseuds/SorchaCahill
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Life on Jakku is hard. It's unforgiving and doesn't change much. Scavenge, clean parts, get rations, repeat. Most of all it was a way to pass the time, a way to make the waiting more bearable. It never changed. That is until one tiny and stubborn droid came into Rey's life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	5,114 Days

Very little changed on Jakku. The days passed in a haze of heat, the sun was bright and merciless, where the heat was almost unbearable at times. At night, without the sun’s heat, there was no warmth. And then there was the sand. It was everywhere you went and no matter how well built your shelter was, the sand always managed to find its way in. 

Rey shivered in the corner of the AT-AT she had commandeered as her own all those years ago. That night had been a particularly cold one and the threadbare blanket she owned wasn’t quite enough to keep the chill at bay. Her dreams of late hadn’t been helping. For as long as she could remember she had dreamed of an ocean and a small green isle. They were so vivid they could almost be memories, but nothing could be that blue, that green. Hers was a world of tans and browns.

Lately though, lately her dreams had changed. Instead of water and green, she saw fire and blood. She saw blurry shapes of people; faces that she couldn’t really see but felt that she should know.

She didn’t know where the dreams were coming from, what dark corner of her mind thought it necessary that she see them, but she didn’t want to see what they showed her. She just wanted to scavenge enough scrap of the graveyards so she could get enough rations to make it through another day.

Another day of surviving. Another day of waiting.

The sun creeped through the cracks of the AT-AT, announcing the dawn of a new day. Rey’s stomach grumbled. She had only earned a measly half-ration yesterday and it hadn’t been enough to fill her stomach. It seemed she could never earn enough lately. 

Determined that would not happen again today, Rey tossed off her blanket and shook off the last vestiges of sleep. She knew just the place to search. It would take at least a couple of hours to get there if she didn’t run into any trouble but it would be worth it.

It had to be.

Rey grabbed her gear before crawling out of the AT-AT. Her canteen sat heavy on her hip and she was thankful for her foresight in filling it before she left the marketplace yesterday as it meant less time preparing an more time for scavenging.

Wrapping her scarf over her head, Rey walked up to her speeder. It wasn’t  _ completely _ a piece of junk, the work she had done on it over the last several years prevented that, but it certainly wouldn’t win any beauty contests. That was okay with her. It had speed and stability and responded to her commands. She didn’t need it to be shiny.

The sun was a handspan high in the sky by the time she made it to the Imperial Star Destroyer. Many scavengers had come here in the years since it had fallen from the sky during the Battle of Jakku but Star Destroyers were big ships and this one was further out from the trading post so it wasn’t as picked over as the others. Rey left her speeder at the base of the dune where the cruiser had crashed and began the slow climb up.

As she rappelled into the belly of the Star Destroyer, Rey marvelled at how quiet it was in there. In the past she had tried to imagine what it must have been like when people had inhabited it, what they were like, did they agree with the Empire and its purpose or did they secretly wish they had been on the side of the rebels? She still wondered about it sometimes, but less and less as time went by. The stories she had made up when she was a child had distracted her from the waiting but now she focused more on trying to find the best salvage and marking the days as they passed.

Still... Still there were times when she fantasized about other worlds. What they would be like, what type of people lived there. She wondered about the starships, what it would be like to pilot them. She’s been pulling apart the guts of ships and putting them back together for as long as she could remember, had sat in the cockpit of several of the wrecks sitting in the salvage yard, flipping switches and spinning dials. To earn a few more credits and rations she had made repairs on whatever cruisers and speeders they would let her hands on; something that got easier once pilots realized just how good she was at fixing things. A couple had even offered her a job but she had turned them all down. 

She couldn’t leave. Not when her family was coming back for her.

***

Rey wanted to hit something. Hard. Preferably Unkar Plutt in his ugly face. He was notoriously stingy with survival rations but giving her a one-quarter ration for a day’s hard work was beyond the pale. How was she supposed to bring in good salvage if she had to survive on a meager one-quarter ration?

_ “Conditions have changed.” _

Sure conditions have changed, those conditions being Plutt’s greediness and unwillingness to part with rations.

She would dearly love to punch him in his big, ugly nose but knew better. An angry Plutt was a Plutt that gave out even stingier rations. It was days like this that made her question her devotion to never leaving Jakku until her family came to get her. Just a little mind you.

Seething she returned to her AT-AT, tossing her staff in the corner before pulling out her supplies. Her stomach growled her she put together her small fare. It wasn’t much and tasted only slightly better than dirt but it filled the empty pit in her stomach.

She was calmer by the time everything was done. Rather than eat in the cramped confines of the AT-AT cockpit, she brought her food outside and, almost as an afterthought, the old rebel helmet she’d scavenged from an old X-Wing fighter all those years ago as well.

The sand shifted slightly under her when she sat down. It still held the warmth of the day but in the shade of the AT-AT it was tolerable enough for her to sit and eat her meal. The food disappeared quicker than she would have liked and she licked her plate clean so that nothing remained. Not very dignified she supposed but when hunger gnawed at your stomach like a knife-beaked steelpecker, dignity was the last thing on your mind.

She picked up the helmet as she finished chewing the last bite and put it on. It was difficult to see with the blast shield down, but if she used her imagination she could imagine she was piloting an X-Wing, fighting against the Empire. She’d gone through the modules on the flight simulator so many times that she could probably run them in her sleep but she still wondered what it would be like to really fly something.

The stillness of the evening was broken by the indignant beeping of a droid followed by a voice she knew all too well. Grabbing her staff, she raced in the direction of the noise. Cresting over the dune she saw the familiar form of Teedo struggling with his net and the very upset droid stuck in it. From this distance she couldn’t quite understand what the droid was saying but it definitely did not want to go with Teedo. She couldn’t blame the droid. Teedo cared more about the scrap he could get from a droid than its value as a whole. It didn’t matter how useful or smart the droid was, it was about the amount of credits and rations he could get.

As she got closer the droids beeping got louder, the poor thing speaking Binary so fast that Rey could barely understand it. What little she was able to catch strongly indicated that it did not want to go with Teedo. Teedo was struggling to keep the droid under control as it fought to get out of the net. The droid didn’t know just how lucky it was. If Teedo had a droid stunner the matter would be done and over with. Fortunately for the little droid Teedo was too cheap to spend credits on a stunner.

“Let it go, Teedo.”

“The droid’s mine. Back off.”

Rey looked down at the still struggling droid and then back at Teedo. “Doesn’t seem that it wants to go with you. Let it go.”

“It’s fair salvage, you Harpy. I found it, it’s mine.”

“Let it go, Teedo, before I knock you off that luggabeast and shove my staff down your throat. Don’t test me, you know I can do it.”

The droid’s head whirred back and forth between Rey and Teedo, nervously beeping as it waited for it’s fate to be decided.

Teedo swore at her, calling her several more uncomplimentary names, watching impotently as Rey marched forward and cut the droid free of the net. 

“I’ll get you back for this, I promise.”

“Big words for a tiny lizard.”

Free of the net, the droid rolled up to her and pressed up against her leg. It beeped at her softly and Rey shushed it, needing to concentrate on Teedo.

Teedo spat at the ground and cursed her. “May R’iia’s breath drown you in the sands.”

“If she hasn’t gotten me by now, it’s not going to happen. Go find a scrap heap to fall in.”

Rey watched carefully as Teedo nudged the luggabeast into motion, the lumbering beast snorting as it shambled away. The droid continued to cling to her leg as if it was unsure that it was really free from Teedo’s clutches. As soon as Teedo was out of sight she knelt down before the droid, getting a good look at it for the first time. It’s antenna was bent to one side and the desert sand was doing its best to get into its cracks and crevices. Rey reached out and removed the antenna, straightening it before placing it back on the droid’s head.

“You’re lucky, you know. Teedo would have broken you down for scrap.”

Calmer know that it was free, the droid beeped at her, it’s tone filled with worry.

“Yes, he’s awful but not unique. You should be more careful. Most scavengers around here would do the same.”

The droid turned it’s head in the direction Teedo had gone off in and then back to her. It beeped at her twice, it’s tone more hopeful.

“No, not me.” Standing up, she brushed sand off her pants. “There. You’re all fixed. Be on your way.” She started walking away but the droid followed her, beeping frantically.

“No, you can’t come with me.” She pointed off to the west. “Niima Outpost is that way. You can find whatever it is you need that way.”

The droid continued beeping in Binary. If it had been able to speak Basic Rey would have sworn that it was babbling. It kept going on and on about how it had an important mission it’s master had given him.

“I can’t help you. Go to Niima Outpost. Find someone there to help you.”

Rey started to walk away again but the droid was persistent, rolling up quickly around her and blocking her path. 

“You’re a determined little thing, aren’t you?” Rey sighed, cursing the stubbornness of droids, particularly astromechs. “Fine. You can come with me. I’ll take you to Niima in the morning. We don’t want to be walking about at night.”

The droid beeped at her once more and Rey had to bite back a smile.

“Yes, BB-8, I’ll keep you safe until we get you to your master.”

***

Back in the AT-AT, she stowed her staff on a shelf. The droid wandered about the cockpit, stopping at the wall where she had etched her days. BB-8 whirred at her, it’s tone questioning.

“Yes, each mark is for a day I’ve been here. 5,114 days.” The droid beeped again. “I’m waiting for my family,” she answered. Another beep. “No, I don’t know where they are, but they’re coming back for me.”

It could have been so easy for her to be bitter about being abandoned here on Jakku. She had only the vaguest whisper of a memory of when she had arrived here. It had been so long that at times she sometimes wondered if she’d ever lived anywhere else, but Plutt had assured her that she was no Jakku native. That she’d been left here when she was young and that her family would come back for her eventually.

It took her a moment to realize that BB-8 was beeping at her again. Looking down blankly at the droid, she frowned when it repeated itself.

“I’m sure your master is very smart and clever but my family knows where I am. It’s only a matter of time before they come back for me.” 

BB-8 looked back at the wall and then back at her, for once not saying anything. The silence only lasted about five minutes before it started beeping at her again. Rey, who had been busy cleaning out a part she’d taken from the Star Destroyer, stopped and stared at the droid.

“A pilot in the Resistance? What does he fly?” she asked, excitement filling her despite her earlier vow to remain detached. She couldn’t help it. Being a pilot was so much more exciting than being a scavenger. She listened as BB-8 regaled her for close to a half hour with its master’s heroics, claiming that Poe Dameron was the best pilot in the Resistance.

“The best pilot, huh? According to who?” She laughed when BB-8 told her everyone. “Well, if I ever meet your master, I’ll have to judge that for myself.

“Are you going to tell me what this big, important mission it is that you’re on?”

Instead of answering her, BB-8 rolled around the cockpit as if cataloging her belongings.

“BB-8, if you want me to help you, I need to know what I’m getting myself into.”

BB-8 let out a noise that could have very easily been mistaken for a sigh before answering her.

“Classified? Are you kidding me?” At the droid’s stubborn silence, she shook her head. “No, I can see you’re not. Fine. We’ll go to Niima in the morning and see if we can’t get you transport off planet to get you back to the Resistance with your classified information,” she paused. “I have to warn you, it won’t be easy. Remember Teedo? There are more like him at Niima. We’ll be lucky to find you a freighter that will take you off planet and not sell you to the highest bidder.”

BB-8 beeped excitedly at her. Rey frowned at the little droid.

“I can’t come with you, you know that.”

BB-8 bowed its head, emitting a mournful beep. Rey tried to remain firm but the droid seemed utterly distraught at the thought of being left alone.

“Fine,” she sighed. “I’ll help you get back to your master but once we do I’m coming right back here.”

BB-8 spun around in a circle excitedly, beeping happily at her. Rey let out a laugh, shaking her head.

“Do you always get your way?”

BB-8 whistled innocently and she laughed again. “Fine. You should power down for the night. We leave for Niima at first light.”

 


End file.
